A -- Development and Maintenance of an Aged Cell Bank

?This sources sought announcement is in support of market research being conducted by the National Institutes of Health to identify small business sources (including veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, 8(a) business, and women-owned small business concerns) that are capable of performing the following requirements:? Background: A repository of human cells, selected for their possible aid in understanding the process of aging, was established by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development in 1974. This repository came under the National Institute on Aging (NIA) control in 1976 and has since been expanded to include animal cultures as well as human. The repository has served the aging research community by providing investigators with cultures of high quality, well characterized and uncontaminated cell lines for studying the biology of aging. Project Purpose: The purpose of this acquisition is to continue the operation of the Aging Cell Repository which serves to facilitate gerontological research by providing high quality, uncontaminated, well characterized, clinically documented cell lines to investigators. This repository is, therefore, very important to NIA in meeting its program objectives. The principal goals the Government hopes to achieve through this contract include: 1) collection of biological specimens from a broad spectrum of species, including humans and non human primates and other animal species, that exhibit some feature that makes them valuable for biogerontology research; 2) from these biological specimens, prepare cell cultures of high quality, i.e., uncontaminated, well characterized, and clinically documented; 3) store these cell cultures under very specialized conditions, i.e., in liquid nitrogen; 4) remove from storage, expand, and distribute to investigators upon request; and 5) facilitate and stimulate gerontological research that hopefully will lead to a better understanding of the process of aging. Please Note: Small Business Teaming is encouraged. Interested sources are required to send capability statements to the following not later than 03/27/2008, 3 PM, EST: Andrew L. Maine Contracting Officer Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Division of Research Acquisition, 6100 Executive Boulevard, Room 6E01S, MSC 7540, Bethesda, MD, 20892-7540, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-7540 Note: In addition to your business capabilities - Capability Statement(s) must include your business size standard and reflect any and all special small business categories. Capabilities packages shall not exceed 20 pages.